A Great Couple
by SeththeGreat
Summary: A collection of short stories revolving our favorite battle couple, Krillin and Eighteen. CH2 now out.
1. No Need for Apologies

Krillin and Eighteen arrived home with their daughter after coming back from winning the Tournament of Power. They had had a celebration party at Bulma's as soon as they got back, and now it was getting late.

"Home sweet home!" Krillin rejoiced as he unlocked the front door and they entered the house. Marron had this excited look on her face, like she was still ready to celebrate some more. Eighteen quickly noticed that and spoke up.

"No young lady! It's almost past your bedtime." Eighteen sternly told Marron.

Marron looked to her mother with a pleading look in her eyes. "But mommy!" She began to beg.

Krillin couldn't help but chuckle. "Your mother is right Marron. You still have school tomorrow. You gotta get some sleep!" He looked at her and explained.

Seeing her mother and father were in a mutual agreement on this, Marron didn't bother trying to beg to stay up late. "Okay." She pouted, though she wasn't really upset.

"Get yourself ready for bed, and mommy and I will be there to tell you goodnight." He instructed. Krillin turned to Eighteen and smiled. She gave a small smile back in response. Seeing that beautiful smile always made Krillin feel warm inside. For Eighteen, that goofy smile of his was just one on several reasons why she married him.

* * *

After putting Marron to bed, Krillin and Eighteen had snuggled up in their own bed just a couple hours later. Krillin looked as comfortable as could be. Being in bed with his arms wrapped around his wife was heaven to him. Eighteen however, looked conflicted, guilty even. She was thinking about something she said to Krillin at the tournament, something horrible.

" _You call yourself my husband?!"_ She complained in response to Krillin being the first one on the Universe 7 team to be eliminated. Even though he was way up in the spectator's seats, she knew he still heard it. She had said it and pretty much forgotten about it. It was only when she had time to think about all that had occurred did she think about it. Why did she say that? He didn't deserve to be told that, he actually did well in tournament, better than what most expected of him. IN fact, if it wasn't for him, she would have been the first member of the team to be eliminated. She had to talk to him, she had to apologize.

"Krillin?" She began softly.

"What's up, babe?" He muttered in response.

She sat up and turned to Krillin. "I owe you an apology." She confessed. This earned a look of genuine confusion from her husband, who sat up as well.

"For what?"

"For something I said at the tournament." She said, turning away from his gaze out of guilt.

It took Krillin a moment to realize what she was referring to. "Oh that! Oh babe don't worry about that! It's no big deal." He simply shrugged that off. He meant it too. He wasn't hung up on what she said. It was water under the bridge to him.

Eighteen looked back at him with utter shock. "Are you serious? No big deal? Is that what you said?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"BECAUSE IT IS A BIG DEAL KRILLIN!" She raised her voice at him angrily but did not scream, as she didn't want to wake up Marron. Needless to say she got Krillin's attention.

It was strange. He wasn't mad at her, wasn't listing the reasons why she should feel bad, wasn't arguing with her. And that's why she was upset, because she wanted him to do all of those things because she felt she deserved it. Why was he so damn forgiving? "What I said to you was awful Krillin! How can you forgive me so easily? Why aren't you mad at me?!" She pleaded for answers.

"Because I know you didn't mean it!" He answered her. He cupped his wife's cheek with one of his hands and rubbed it. "Tell me, are you actually ashamed of me being your husband?" Krillin asked rhetorically. She quickly shook her head.

"No! Of course not! I love you! You know that!" She stated. She hoped he wasn't doubting her love for him. If he was, she would make damn sure that he knows how much she loved him.

"You're right! I do know that, and that's why I knew you didn't mean it!" He smiled. Eighteen was still a little confused. "I'm sure it must've been a little frustrating to see me get eliminated so you just needed to blow off some steam, that's all." He explained, rubbing Eighteen's arm to comfort her.

This just reminded Eighteen of another reason why she fell for Krillin. Back when they were getting to know each other, complicated emotions were very foreign to her. There were many times that she felt something she could never remember feeling before. She couldn't explain them properly and they confused her, sometimes even scared her. But Krillin was always there for her, helping her to understand these emotions.

"I guess your right. I really didn't know why I said it, it just came out." She said. With a long sigh she said. "Krillin, I don't know how you put up with me sometimes."

Krillin smiled "Eighteen, I've been impaled, blown up, had my neck broken, and turned to stone. Compared to that, putting up with you is no problem." He joked. Eighteen briefly gave him a half-hearted glare before she just started laughing a little. Krillin was surprised by this. "Wow! I can't remember the last time I made you laugh. Usually you just roll your eyes or scoff at my bad jokes!" He chuckled.

"Yeah but, I think that one was kind of funny." She admitted with a smile. She moved her face closer to Krillin's and gave him a kiss on the lips, causing the ex-monk's face to flush red. "I also think it's funny when you blush like an idiot."

"Well then you basically get free entertainment. You know how easy it is for you to get me to blush! You cheater!" He said with a mock pout. Then an idea sparked in Krillin's head. He remembered something that happened at the tournament that was sure to embarrass Eighteen. "Hey you wanna know what else was funny? When you were really getting into the role of being a villain towards Universe 2's fighters that were obsessed with "the power of love!"

Eighteen's eyes widened. "W-what are you talking about?"

"Oh, don't play dumb! You were like "I'm Eighteen, Goddess of Universe 7, and the one who defeated Ribrianne!" He said, doing a terrible imitation of Eighteen. He then saw it was Eighteen that was now blushing. "Haha! The tables have turned! Now you're the one blushing!"

"I…I wasn't enjoying that! I was only doing that to mock them!" She protested while giving him a sharp glare. For once, Krillin wasn't phased by her glare. Most of the time it would shut him up and get her to do whatever she asked. Hell, it wasn't even just him. He could count on his fingers the number of people who _aren't_ affected by it. But right now, her giving him that look while her cheeks were bright red, she just looked adorable to him. He could play with her a little more, but he decided against it. He wasn't going to push his luck and see how much he could tease his wife. There was a limit.

"Alright babe! If you say so." He shrugged, his voice sounding unconvinced. "Come here." He said and extended his arms out, an invitation for her to lean toward him. The frown and glare on her face rescinded, with a small smile and loving eyes. She leaned her head into his chest, putting a hand on it as well. Krillin wrapped his arms around his wife, pulling her into a gentle embrace. They both closed their eyes as they attempted to sleep.

"You may not be the goddess of the whole universe, but you're definitely the goddess of my world." Krillin spoke softly into her ear.

She opened her eyes briefly to roll them. "Oh god Krillin…that was so cheesy." She groaned.

"But you loved it though." He muttered and sported a goofy grin.

Eighteen let a long sigh. "Yeah. I did." She confessed and smiled.

"Love you, Lazuli."

"I love you too Krillin."

* * *

 **So there's an odd bunch of couples that we see in Dragon Ball. Goku and Chi-Chi, an alien of a warrior race that doesn't have much going for him in the brain department unless it involves fighting and a woman with and a human princess with Tiger Mom behavior and an affinity for Chinese styled clothing. Then Vegeta and Bulma, the prince of said warrior race that made a transformation from villain to hero over the course of DBZ while keeping his stubbornness along the way, and a human woman that's the smartest woman on the planet as well as the richest, who is just as if not more stubborn than Vegeta. And then you've got this one, Krillin and Eighteen, A human ex-monk, who is also a midget with no nose, but is still the strongest pure human on Earth, and he's also the nicest guy on the you could meet. And he's married to a beautiful cyborg that was originally given orders to kill his best friend, and has a very cold demeanor towards people she doesn't know.**

 **This is my favorite hands down, and I don't know how to explain why. Probably because there's a lot of reasons.**

 **Anyway, this is probably going to be a series of one-shots revolving around Krillin and Eighteen. You can consider this my contribution towards the underrated K18 pair. Hope you liked it. It's actually my first Romance story so any advice is welcome.**


	2. Defying Fate

**Chapter 2: Defying Fate**

* * *

She was on a table, unable to move. Strangely, she couldn't feel any restraints holding her down. There was no anesthesia, and she certainly wasn't unconscious. She could see, feel, hear, smell. But for the life of her, she couldn't move. She couldn't even speak. It was terrifying. She was trapped within her own thoughts.

She saw an older man in a lab coat approach the table. She knew who that was, the "good" Doctor.

"Lapis and Lazuli. What a perfect pair of test subjects for my first attempt at making Cyborgs." He cackled. "The two of you were nothing but a bunch of runaway delinquents roaming the streets. No one is going to look for you, because no one is going to miss you.

I know the both of you are angry at me right now, but years from now you will be thanking me. I'm going to make you capable of amazing things!" He said.

But she had a feeling his idea of "amazing" was much different than what her and Lapis believed. This doctor was nothing but a mad man. She wanted to get off the table, take Lapis and escape but there was nothing she could do. The doctor approached her table and had a set of surgical tools. He grabbed a scalpel and looked down at her. "Now then…let's get started."

She could feel herself screaming internally as the tool came closer to her body.

* * *

"Eighteen! EIGHTEEN WAKE UP!" A voice shouted above her in concern.

Her eyes shot open to see Krillin above her, the worry on his face clear as day. He was on her bed, arm wrapped around her back to hold her up right. Eighteen was still frantic, breathing heavily, eyes darting all around the room. Krillin wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into an embrace with the hope of calming her down.

"It's okay. It was just a nightmare. You're safe now." He whispered into her ear with a soothing voice.

Eighteen wasn't particularly fond of the situation. She didn't want anyone to ever see her looking so weak. But here Krillin was, seeing her at her weakest. But she quickly didn't care about that anymore, and she buried her face into Krillin's shoulder and let her tears flow. Krillin said nothing. No words of comfort or anything like that because she didn't need that. Right now, all she needed was a shoulder to cry on. It continued for about five minutes before she stopped. When it was over, she had finally realized just how safe she felt in Krillin's arms. She raised her head out of Krillin's shoulder and looked at him. "Thank you…for waking me up." She said sheepishly.

A small smile formed on Krillin's face. "I made you a promise, didn't I? I said that I would always be here to help you." He said. He released her from his embrace and allowed her to sit up.

It's true. He did tell her that. It was one of the first things he said whenever she agreed to come and live at Kame House. She didn't ask him to make that promise, he made it himself. Krillin's smile went back to a frown and he asked "Do you want to tell me what your nightmare was about?" The question caused Eighteen to avert her eyes from Krillin's gaze. He cringed a little bit upon seeing that. He knew it was a very personal question. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

She thought about whether she should or not. Maybe it was about time she opened up to him. He had been nothing but good to her. He was kind and selfless. He had provided her a home, food, water, a bed to sleep in. He bought her clothes and other things she wanted. He had cared for her, and never asked for anything in return.

"It was about Dr. Gero. Before me and Seventeen became cyborgs. He was about to start turning me into one." She answered.

Krillin grimaced at the answer. He often forgot about her past as an experiment of Dr. Gero, even sometimes forgot that she was a cyborg. He just saw her as a person. To think of what her and Seventeen must have been through broke his heart. "I'm sorry…I can't believe what that bastard did."

"It's the earliest memory I have for some reason. I can't remember anything else about my life prior to being a cyborg. But if what Dr. Gero said is any indication, Seventeen and I were just a bunch of street rats. Our lives weren't even great to begin with. Nobody would notice or care if we just disappeared one day." She sighed.

Krillin wanted to challenge that, find some positivity. Say that they must have had someone that missed them, and even to this day misses them. But what position was he in to say that? He knew nothing about her life as a child. To claim otherwise would just be a lie.

"We were made with one goal, to kill Goku. Well we didn't really care to do it anyway, and even if we did, Goku's gone. Now there's nothing. I'm just a machine without a future." Eighteen sighed sadly, and a tear began dropping down her cheek.

That statement made Krillin snap. He would not just sit there and listen to Eighteen devalue herself. He placed his hands on her shoulders. "No…you're wrong." He said, his voice hoarse. He looked at her with a fierce passion in his eyes that shocked her. It was determination to make her realize she's more than an experiment. "You're not a machine. You're a human!"

Eighteen glared at Krillin. "How can you say that? My body is riddled with mechanical components. I am a machine!"

"Then what are these tears?" Krillin asked, referring to the stains of her tears on his shirt as well as rubbing the tear on her face. "Machines can't cry."

Eighteen's eyes widened with that statement. The hostile glare she had given Krillin was gone.

"Your body may be mechanical in some areas, but your heart is human. You have emotions, desires, fears like human's do." He explained to her, his conviction clear in his words. "What Gero did to you was terrible. But you don't have to let that define who you are. He no longer controls you. It's you who gets to decide what kind of person you want to be. The kind of life that you want to live."

Eighteen felt a lot of things from hearing Krillin's speech. She was shocked, and dare she say…moved by his words. She never thought about things the way he did. Gero had designed her and Seventeen with a specific objective in mind, designated their fate. And yet, while he was able to capture them, he was not able to control them. Her and Seventeen were not mindless machines that only served the purpose of their master. They could think and decide for themselves. The first thing they did once released from their pods was kill the old man, defying his orders and rejecting any notions of fate that he had in store for them.

She was her own master now, she just never took the time to really think about it. Finally realizing her freedom and the power that comes with it, she smiled, which made Krillin smile as well. But she soon frowned, because she also began to feel overwhelmed. "You're right Krillin. I am a human, and I can choose what I want to do with my life…but…"

Krillin looked at her with concern. "But what?"

"I don't know what I want to do. And it…scares me." She reluctantly admitted to him. Krillin just smiled and held her hand.

"That's alright Eighteen. It's common for people to feel the way you're feeling right now."

"It is?"

"Yeah! A lot of people struggle trying to figure out what their place in this world will be. It can take time to figure it out. This isn't a decision you have to make right now. You can just keep going one day at a time and it will eventually come to you." He assured her. "And I'll be with you to help, every step of the way. Okay?"

She smiled and nodded. "Okay." She already was quite fond of the small man. But after tonight and all that he had said and done to help her, she began seeing him as something like a very good friend, and she'd be lying to herself if she didn't also think of him as something possibly deeper than that. Suddenly an unrelated thought popped into her mind.

"Wait a minute…how did you get in here? I always lock the door when I go to sleep." She questioned with a raised brow. Krillin's face reddened and he rubbed the back of his head nervously while giving her a sheepish smile.

"Um…about that…"

They both looked at the spot where her door is, or "was" more specifically, as Eighteen saw that the door had been knocked down. She looked back at him.

"Look, I'm really, really sorry, but I heard you screaming! I knocked and called your name but you didn't answer so I thought you might be and trouble! I was worried s-"

She cut off his nervous rambling by wrapping her arms around him and whispered "Thank you." She let him go and they both got off her bed. "But that does leave a problem. No door means that I can't sleep without having to worry about one of the two perverts sneaking in here and trying something with me."

"That's alright! You can have my bed for the night! It's got a working lock and everything! And I promise that I'll have your door fixed by tomorrow!" He offered.

"Okay then."

He led her to his room and opened the door for her. He watched as she got settled in his bed. Once she was relaxed, he was preparing to leave the room. "Good night Eighteen."

"Where are you going?" she quickly asked. Krillin was confused. He thought this was the plan.

"I'm going sleep downstairs so you can have the room to yourself."

"I never said you had to leave, Krillin." She reminded him with a grin, chuckling a bit as she could see him get flustered. "This bed is big enough for two, so come on."

"I-I mean…are you sure?"

"Get in the bed." She said sternly.

"Alright! Getting in!" he complied and got himself under the covers, not before locking the door behind him of course.

Eighteen smiled. "Just don't let your hands wander anywhere they shouldn't be."

"You know I would never do that." Krillin said, sounding somewhat offended that she would even think he would do something so egregious.

"I was just joking, don't get your feelings all hurt." She said. She turned herself around to face Krillin, causing him to raise an eyebrow. Without a word she wrapped an arm over his body and rested up against him. His eyes widened and body temperature spiked. At this rate he felt like he might get a heart attack. "Good night." was all she said before finally closing her eyes.

"Yeah…good night."

Krillin was glad that everything worked out. He was able to comfort Eighteen when she needed it and also show her that she had humanity in her. He couldn't deny that he was practically smitten with her, but that wasn't the reason he did all the he did for her. Providing her food, water, shelter, and material goods wasn't done with the intent of getting her to fall for him. He did this because he sincerely wanted to help her. This poor woman had years of her life taken away from her by a madman. Now she had a chance to make a new life, and he wanted to help her do it. She could leave Kame House for good, and while he would be undoubtedly sad, he would still be happy as long as she had found her place in life.

But now it seemed like some of those feelings he felt for her, she was reciprocating them. He smiled.

He could really get used to this.


End file.
